Wheel
by Rashelle
Summary: After the war in Ishbal is over, a cart carrying military personnel breaks a wheel in Risembool, and two kids are there to fix it. Could have happened but didn't thing. Oneshot.


**Just a quick little it-never-happened-but-it-could-have thing. It doesn't matter, anime or manga, but manga is probably better suited for the timeline that might or might not be accurate. This is pre-series, so technically nothing to worry about, but just saying. I hope you like it! :)**

(Break)

The wooden cart pulled by horses was trudging over the bumpy country roads of Risembool. The soldiers inside didn't care too much. Ishbal had been much, much worse-this was luxory. They tenatively muttered to each other, all with big, dark circles under their eyes, not quite sure if they were dreaming about this peaceful, green land they were slowly passing, or not. All of a sudden, a wooden crack, and one of the wheels split, the side drooping. The officers imemdiately snapped into alertness, and scanned the area. Finally realizing that there was no danger, they climbed out of the cart warily, replacing their weapons. Among these soldiers wes Major Mustang. The soldiers just milled around, while the driver inspected the broken wheel.

All of a sudden, three small figures ran up the hill off the side of the road, and stopped when they saw what the noise had come from. The broken cart wheel made the two blonde brothers grin, and the blonde girl with them wonder what her friends were up to. Then she noticed the military personnel, and seemed to get a little scared. "But... they're in the military..."

The older blonde looked at his friend. "Yeah. And they just broke the cart. Me and my brother can fix it!"

Al nodded vigorously, as Winry sighed. "You guys shouldn't do alchemy everything. You'll be otakus."

"You're a gearhead!" Ed shot back.

"I am not! Take that back!" Winry shouted. By now all the officers were looking at the arguing children. Al walked up to Roy, and tugged on his shirt. Roy looked down, and his face made Al flinch, but he went on shyly. "You need to repair the wheel, right? If you can break up my brother and and our friend's fight, we'll fix it for you."

Roy looked at Al in surprise. Then he chuckled. "I'll break it up for you. I hope you can fix the wheel." Mustang, at that time, of course didn't think that they could repair the wheel, but the kid here was so cute with those big eyes, it was hard to say no.

Roy walked over to the two kids, who didn't even pause in their shouting match to look up at him. He sighed. "Hey! Break it up!" He put a hand in between the two, causing them to pause and look up at him. "What?" the blonde boy snarled.

Roy sighed agian. "Are you going to fix the wheel?" Ed looked at the military officer in surprise. "Y...yeah. Come on, bro!" Ed ran over to the wooden heap, his brother in tow.

Mustang was vaugely interested how two children were going to fix the wooden wheel, when he saw what they were drawing around it. His eyes widened in the slightest. The older one put his hands on the array, and in a flash, the wheel was back to normal, possibly better than before.

The officers gasped. The brothers stood up and smiled. "See? Told you we could fix it!"

Roy walked over to the two, frowning slightly. "Alchemy, huh? Aren't you alittle young?"

The two beamed. "Yeah! But we had an awesome teacher! She can tranmute just by clapping her hands. She doesn't need a transmutation circle!"

Roy raised an eyebrow. "And do tell who, please."

"Her name is Izumi Curtis, and she lives in Dublith." Al frowned. "But she made it pretty clear she doesn't like the military. I don't really know why."

Roy stored this information away. "I see... how old are the two of you?"

"I just turned 11!" Ed said proudly. "And I'm about to turn 10," Al added.

"Your parents must be proud."

Roy was confused as the two boys' faces fell. He frowned. "What's wrong?"

"Well..." Al started softly. "Our mom died of illness, and our dad left... so we've been living with Granny Pinako..."

Roy felt a small part in him sadden. Poor kids... but, he was also adopted, so he knew what they were feeling. He crouched down next to them. "So why did the two of you learn alchemy?"

Ed snapped out of his gloom, and immediately replied, "So we can help people!"

Roy flinched. That was pretty much the exact opposite of a state alchemist.

"...I see," Roy said slowly, standing up and walking back over to the cart where the rest of the officers were already. "Well, I best be on my way, I hope to see the two of you again some day."

Roy climbed in the cart, and watched the three children walk back over the horizon in the opposite direction. Only then did he realize he never gave the kids his name... and he never got theirs.


End file.
